(She will get brushed! And she will get Churu!)

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best books out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Andy Serkis also narrated The Silmarillion – it comes out in June.
• Multipart liveblogged reaction to watching The Lord of the Rings for the first time.
• A twist on the usual “humans are weird” post.
• “The reckless fantasy of ‘life after COVID’ and why people are pushing back“.
• LEGO Mars Rover Perseverance!
• If you’ve ever wondered about the origin of the term “mansplaining”…
• “Life cycle of the Maple Leaf Shawl“.
• S’mores cookies.
• Triangle-wheeled bike.
• A most unexpected interior.
• Lovely.
• Pink Gothic Victorian cottage.
• Love how airy it is.
• I am not cool enough to know these people.
• The yellow really pops.
• “Cruise ship home“.
• Pirate-themed house.
• Soooooo ugly.
• One of the photos in the main bedroom makes it look as if the bed is mashed against the closet doors, but the next photo shows that’s not the case.
• Unexplained stairs and door in the pool.
• So much wasted potential, with bonus deadly stairs.
• Some “creative” stairs.
• LEGOesque stairs.
• WHY.
• NOT an acceptable railing – and you really need a railing for these.
• Ouch.
• FAIL.

Another photo of Mayhem being brushed! She turns 17 on the 27th. 😮

Polly snuggled under a fuzzy blanket.

Polly and Harry watching birds.

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• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week, “new and upcoming nonfiction and poetry by AAPI authors“), Tor.com (YA SFF, fantasy)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• “LEGO Ankh-Morpork“.
• An interesting difference between LotR the movie and LotR the books.
• “35 must-read works of nonfiction by AAPI authors“.
• 2023 Pulitzer Prize winners.
• 20 books about dragons.
• “How to support your library in the wake of rising fascism“.
• How Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood turned a four-year old novel into a belated bestseller.
• Good Omens 2 will be released on July 28!
• A ficlet.
• And another.
• And yet another.
• Get free crochet patterns from the National Park Service.
• How cool – geode cakes.
• Three-ingredient chocolate cake.
• SERIOUSLY.
• The last house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• I love the backsplash in the pantry.
• Kind of cool, with an odd dining room table.
• Cool but chaotic.
• Must love bricks.
• Has a staggering amount of detail.
• Fairy tale cottage in Minnesota.
• Another Minnesota one, but in Minneapolis.
• Nature and bookshelves.
• The kitchen has an amazing amount of storage.
• Has an indoor tire swing.
• Bold color choices abound.
• Boring on the outside, party on the inside.
• Little pink houses for you and me.
• Peek inside a historic NYC brownstone.
• An expensive cave house.
• Is it just me, or does the outside look like a highway rest stop?
• I bet those kitchen cabinets are sticky in the summer.
• Over the top.
• Somebody wanted the stairs like that?!
• Yikes.
• WTH.
• Awkward.
• Constant awareness required.
• I’m sure these are very easy to navigate in the dark theater…
• FAIL.
• At least put some no-slip grips on those stairs.
• D’oh.
• :facepalm:

Harry wondering what the heck I keep taking his picture for.

Polly “helping”.

Mayhem getting brushed, which is one of her very favorite things.

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• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Re-Generation is a short epilogue to Star Trek: Generations.
• “[Tolkien] elves can’t do science.“
• A tease of a ficlet – I would love to read more!
• Blueberry muffin cookies.
• Oh, the built-in bookshelves!
• The Tile House.
• The Saxophone House.
• Not actually a fairy tale house but nice anyway.
• Castle on the inside only.
• Has a privacy boulder.
• Too many mirrors, plus zebra striped bathrooms.
• Very, very old stairs.
• More optical illusion stairs.
• Why.
• Huh.
• NO.

Mayhem and Harry on my lap.

Harry on the track toy.

Polly blep!

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• New releases: Tor.com (horror & genre-benders, YA SFF, SF, fantasy), Book Riot (mysteries/thrillers/true crime, comics/graphic novels, romance, best books out this week, SFF), Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• The background of #gnu terry pratchett.
• A good ficlet.
• Trivia from The Matrix (1999).
• Interactive map of Mars.
• Cement factory conversion.
• Cool, but not a treehouse.
• If only they’d turned that pseudo tower into a real one.
• That’s too many kitchenettes. Put some back.
• A condo with a trippy bathroom.
• Built into rocks and has a terrible kitchen.
• Stupid stairs to a tiny tub.
• Hope you’re never in a hurry.
• :blink blink:
• At least there’s a good reason for these dangerous stairs.

Mayhem!

Polly, on April Fool’s Day, with the 8″/20.3cm of snow we got overnight in the background.

Harry and his muzzle puffs!

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• New releases: Book Riot (best books out this week, best books out last week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Organizing one’s home library.
• Portland “castle with a two-story turret library”.
• Ficlet about a portrait artist and a vampire.
• Ficlet megapost, with more links than the last one I included.
• LEGO has a massive Rivendell set.
• On Aragorn and Sauron’s perception of him.
• “We must take the Ring to Jacksonville“.
• Read “the letter CS Lewis sent to JRR Tolkien describing Aslan”.
• A riveting review of Disney’s Return to Oz movie (1985).
• “A history of the ‘This Is Fine’ comic“.
• “How Tumblr turned social media polls into a game design challenge“.
• Dragon tea kettle.
• Enjoy a little stop-motion needle felted animation.
• An interesting post about astronauts attempting to express their wonder and awe when they get back to Earth.
• What is Fata Morgana?
• Make your own cinnamon extract – apparently handy for recipes where cinnamon settles out.
• Cream cheese lemon blueberry pound cake.
• I think the price on this one reflects its location at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
• Some Tudors just have castle vibes.
• Stately condo in Boston.
• Rustic but extravagant.
• Nice dome home.
• (Compare to this not nice at all double dome home.)
• Another, very different nice home.
• Maximalist condo, must love pink.
• Delightful pink Victorian.
• Another condo, very white.
• Too. Much. Wallpaper.
• Kind of cool, but the nasty carpet needs to go.
• Mysteries plus water slide.
• Just kind of weird.
• …The Easter bunny was a mistake.
• Hollywood-themed house.
• What a guest suite.
• Big airport mood.
• What?
• That can’t possibly be the apartment’s entrance, can it?!
• All the steps are too tall, but that top one…
• “At least it had railings before.“
• Functionally invisible.
• Hmm.
• Huh.
• Yikes.
• Eww.
• Of course that’s where the cats hang out.
• These might actually be for cats and not people.
• Poor kitty – what a terrible place to live.
• Crocheted elephant… life sized.
• Indeed, a crazy art installation.
• Disturbing keyboard.

Harry upsidedown cake!

Polly upsidedown cake!

Mayhem, apparently look at the horrors.

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• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (books out this week, nonfiction)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Toni Morrison is going to be on a stamp.
• Book vending machines used to be a thing.
• Comic based on Escher.
• Mongooses have horizontal pupils.
• Koi pond coffee tables.
• Sheep cafe.
• Portable microwave – that would be my kind of camping!
• I really don’t think it should be called a salad if it includes French fries.
• Very unusual Frank Lloyd Wright house.
• Just nice.
• Octagonal house.
• Earth ship house.
• Hacienda.
• Castle hybrid.
• Too many chandeliers.
• This one has a home theater with a balcony.
• Hmm. Maybe to make sure you get splinters?
• Stairs should not be built with shelf brackets.
• Yikes.
• Whatever the reason for it, it looks silly.

Mayhem’s still a cutie!

Harry is very serious. And annoyed about having his photo taken.

Polly checks out a charging cable.

Polly gnawing on the split loom tubing protecting the charging cable…

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• New releases: Tor.com (horror/genre-benders, YA SFF, SF, fantasy), Book Riot (romance, mystery/thriller/true crime, best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• On the importance of Pippin in LotR.
• “20 book apps for every kind of reader“.
• A Goodwill used bookstore.
• Epistolary ficlet.
• Another ficlet.
• This is SO TRUE.
• Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream.
• Crochet a Star Wars X-Fighter blanket/snuggie.
• This can’t possibly be a serious fashion show.
• Antique computers made from paper.
• “Yankee Candles’ stages of abstraction“.
• Somewhat disconcerting Starry Night optical illusion.
• Sequel to the horrible volume slider post: horrible options for entering your phone number.
• Cookie-stuffed brownies.
• Lovely Frank Lloyd Wright house.
• I was surprised at how well the lemon yellow accents worked.
• Castle…rowhouse.
• Hobbitish house.
• Less green on the inside. Fortunately.
• Lovely except for the lime green laundry room.
• “McMansion with a turret“.
• Buy your own square island for $225M.
• I don’t think they’re going to sell it until they get all of that “decor” out.
• Siegfried and Roy’s Las Vegas compound.
• :blink blink:
• Absolutely ridiculous bathtub location.
• Absolutely deadly bathtub setup.
• I wonder which was added first?
• Danger of impalation.
• Just danger.
• Fireplace stairs.
• WTH.
• Oh snap.

Mayhem would prefer not to have her photo taken, thanks.

Goofy Polly!

My, what a big mouth you have there, Harry!

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• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Tor.com (YA SFF), Gizmodo (SFF, horror), Book Riot (best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “20 newly discovered Terry Pratchett stories will be published this year“.
• Oh, Kurt, we’re really in it now.
• “Jimmy Carter’s Presidency was not what you think“.
• Learn about starfish.
• xkcd tries to spare us all an annoyance. (Hover cursor/long-press for alt text/caption.)
• “Should you warm up your car before driving?“
• “Do you really need 10,000 steps a day?“
• “Size difference between prehistoric animals and modern descendants“.
• You’ll never guess who invented the cat flap.
• “16 baking recipes that don’t require eggs“. (I’ve made the chocolate crazy/wacky cake before and it’s delicious.)
• “There’s a Napoleonic Man of War simulator“.
• A mini choose-your-own-adventure game called “Escape the Wizard Dungeon”.
• Competitive hobbyhorsing.
• Cake batter donut-flavored iced coffee from Dunkin’.
• “Autism causes vaccines!“
• (As an aside, I know, tumblr has started doing this “you gotta log in to see the rest of this post” thing for long posts. UGH. On the bright side, you can quickly create a tumblr account to do so… and it won’t be as creepy as creating most social media accounts is.)
• What a $50 million house in Utah looks like inside.
• Simultaneously simple yet ornate.
• Remodeled Victorian that barely looks Victorian inside anymore.
• Still has that Tudor feel.
• I got stuck on the red bathroom.
• Very colorful!
• Huh.
• No, thank you, I do not want to live over a highway.
• I would definitely fall off one of the edges.
• :blink blink:
• I guess if you’re going to die falling down the stairs, these are at least lovely.

Harry always looks so skeptical/crabby, but he’s the sweetest boy!

Polly sitting like a people.

Mayhem asleep on my lap.

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• New releases: Book Riot (best out this week), AAR (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Maybe this is why everyone starts calling the One Ring their precious.
• Why LoTR is so comforting to watch.
• Ohhhh… (LoTR again).
• Very short ficlet.
• See what it looks like here in Minneapolis with all the snow.
• On beavers.
• Learn about Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer.
• Viz Media put some of their most popular anime up on YouTube for free.
• “Moment humpback whale thought it was a flying fish” (worth clicking through to the original article).
• Some thoughts on weight stigma.
• “ChatGPT is a blurry JPEG of the web“.
• I had never heard of Cartrivision before.
• Rather nice.
• I do like a good turret.
• I think these floors are cool, but they would also freak me out.
• Mushroom house.
• Blue, blue, your house is blue. Blue is your house…
• It has personality.
• As does this.
• “Looks a little scuzzy…“
• NOT a castle.
• And not what I think of when I think of A-frame houses.
• Curvy.
• Who needs 18 bedrooms and 32 bathrooms?!
• A house on stilts in earthquake country.
• Is no one who designs ridiculous stairs clumsy??
• I don’t think Escher should be the inspiration for real life stairs.
• UMMMM…
• Puzzling.
• Button stairs.
• Well, I can see why they removed that from the real estate photos.
• The absolutely grossest way to separate eggs.

Such an adorable goofball!

Harry can be very intense.

Mayhem, very close.

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